Life after BR20 - Spork speaks

Marsman · 2004-01-22, 05:28 PM

The following is from this post with Questions from MaximGatling and Answers by Sporkfire.

[MaximGatling] Can you guys shed some light and/or dispel some rumors about Post-BR20 advancement plans?

Q1. Will there be a Battle Rank 21?

A1. Yes. And I am going to give you a whole bunch of information that could change at a moment's notice. This is simply where Design discussions stand right now. We are targeting the Summer to accomplish this, though don't take that as a firm timeframe yet (and there will be some other really cool stuff between now and then to get you through the wait).

Q2. Will there be defined 'Specialist' Classes we can pick? Specialist abilities or 'open-ended'-specialize-as-you-see-fit abilities?

A2. One of the concepts floating around in the post-BR20 discussions is Elite Abilities. That is, being able to do much cooler stuff than the certs you already have allow (such as barrel rolls for pilots, more hackable items, etc.)

Q3. Will a BR20+ character be any harder to kill before he reaches the equipment terminal than a BR1 character would? (a lot of people are worried about this one)

A3. As this design goes through, we'll try and stay away from that, though a marginally better chance of survival at higher levels is not out of the question yet.

Q4. Will there be additional equipment/uniform upgrades?

A4. Not sure yet. Art has not yet been determined.

Q5. Will exp be a factor and if so, will exp earned now be retroactive?

A5. Again, this is not hammered out in stone in the design.

dscytherulez · 2004-01-22, 05:34 PM

Nifty!

SecondRaven · 2004-01-22, 05:38 PM

At first glance this might be kick ass, but we have to remember now that we can go past BR20 we are going to have people with every cert...(not literaly) but depending on how much further we can go the more everyone is going to look like a super solidger. Ohwell we have to see what happens

Spee · 2004-01-22, 05:41 PM

Even fi you have EVERY cert, that doesnt mean squat. You cannot use every cert at once, thus leaving you just as vulnerable as you were before.

Incompetent · 2004-01-22, 05:41 PM

Not neccesarilly, i would imagine they are going to try to keep around the same ratio of available certs/possible certs they have now as they add more BRs.

Morrik · 2004-01-22, 05:44 PM

Great! When I play for three months and finally reach that goal... then I can worry about it!

Queensidecastle · 2004-01-22, 06:06 PM

I dont want to see the loss of specialization due to too many BR and available cert points but it looks to me they are taking that into consideration. In fact, it looks like they are going the specialization route with things like elite hacker, elite pilot..etc

TheN00b · 2004-01-22, 06:06 PM

Meh, this might deter n00bs a bit. Imagine you buy this great new game, which just won a Game of the Year award from a premier magazine. You begin to play, sweating with anticipation, and... Get blown to smithereens every time you're alive by super soldiers

Not good.

infinite loop · 2004-01-22, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by TheN00b

Meh, this might deter n00bs a bit. Imagine you buy this great new game, which just won a Game of the Year award from a premier magazine. You begin to play, sweating with anticipation, and... Get blown to smithereens every time you're alive by super soldiers

Not good.

Dude that happens right now. Simple fact is, a new player is at a severe disadvantage, no matter how good they are. There is a huge ramp-up time to really getting a feel for this game, and it has nothing to do with BR. I'll say again, the biggest negative thing about PS is the cap on BR and CR. Why shouldn't I be able to have every cert in the game, if I worked to get them? I can't use my MAX while I'm in rexo with HA, nor can I fly my reaver while I'm in a MAX. More certs does not equal lack of sepcialization, that's a BS argument. I can only hope that this means they are starting to agree, but I don't think I can wait till summer!

Madcow · 2004-01-22, 06:46 PM

Originally Posted by infinite loop

Dude that happens right now. Simple fact is, a new player is at a severe disadvantage, no matter how good they are.

Totally true. I was used to playing a lot of multi-players FPS's and Planetside was a whole different beast. You're conditioned for one on one battles with the occasional frag-fest where 5-6 guys end up in the same room at the same time. Playing Planetside like that gets you a lot of tickets to the spawn room. Add the team play factor in (other FPS's can have team play, but it's completely different than the specialized way PS goes about it) and that's a lot to take in/adapt to.

KIAsan · 2004-01-22, 06:50 PM

Hmm, retroactive xp, hmmm. Sorry, started to drool there. Look guys, it would take around 61 certs to posses every cert combination possible. A BR20 only has 23 certs. Do the math. They could continue br until you hit BR58 before you could conceviably be an UBER br with all certs. Now, if they continued the same xp system to gain levels, do you really think you would see a br58????????? Not in my lifetime. Just think about the xp you would have to have.

BUT, allowing us to advance under the current system would give those of us who have the br20 blues new incentives. I would love br21 for the 1 extra cert point. That would rock. BR23 for 3 certs more would be wonderful.

So, for those of you who are worried, please chill. You don't have to fear my 3 or 5 extra certs.

sutserikeru · 2004-01-22, 06:56 PM

i was really hoping they would add more BRs under the current "need more xp to continue" system. Are they going to go beyond CR5? Are they going to add more weapons, armors, abilies, ect for BR20+ players? Spork didnt go into any detail (which he shouldve, even it could change on a moments notice.)

Morrik · 2004-01-22, 07:37 PM

New player's aren't too disadvantaged. The game is balanced in a way where it's possible to get on your feet when accomplishing all the training in the game. Sure, you're not going to be one of the best, but there is a fight chance and that chance is quite large. What good would an MMOFPS game be if there was no balance?

TheN00b · 2004-01-22, 07:52 PM

That's one way to think about it. However, I think that less advanced (in terms of BR and CR) players have to constrict themselves to certain styles. Seeing high-level characters sneak around in a CE/ADVHA/Inf mode, then jump into Air Cav and fly to the Gal waiting for a Pilot, then fly back to the base and grab a ReXo/MA/SA/HA config would be kind of discouraging when you yourself are limited to MAX combat and lite grunt-work.

SpunkJackel · 2004-01-22, 08:21 PM

23 certs is more than enough. If Sony wanted you to do everything at once there would not be a 24hour timer on forgeting old certs. Don't expect them to add more cert points with added BR. But it's probably not out of the question.